May 31, 2009

Australia: All ashore from the Pacific Dawn

New South Wales health authorities say all the passengers on the cruise ship Pacific Dawn, which has docked in Sydney this morning, have been cleared of swine flu.

New South Wales Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant says passengers will allowed to get off the ship as normal after it has finished docking at Darling Harbour.

"I can confirm that the last test result came back as negative so we have no evidence of any swine influenza transmission to any passengers on board the cruise ship. So the normal disembarkation procedures will occur," Dr Chant said.

Despite some experts making dire predictions about the spread of the swine flu, in recent days the Government and health officials have been trying to play down the threat it poses.

Virologist Allan Hampson is the chairman of the Influenza Specialists Group.
He says the swine flu is a threat, but it is one that is being kept in check for the time being.

"We're still very definitely - to my mind - within that contained phase that the Government has declared, and a long way I think yet from moving into the sustained phase, which would be an admission that the virus is spreading out of control," he said.

"A lot of the cases we've seen are in large clusters, where it's known where the virus has originated, including that cruise ship, which has been the source of a lot of cases."

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New South Wales health authorities say all the passengers on the cruise ship Pacific Dawn, which has docked in Sydney this morning, have been cleared of swine flu.

New South Wales Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant says passengers will allowed to get off the ship as normal after it has finished docking at Darling Harbour.

"I can confirm that the last test result came back as negative so we have no evidence of any swine influenza transmission to any passengers on board the cruise ship. So the normal disembarkation procedures will occur," Dr Chant said.

Despite some experts making dire predictions about the spread of the swine flu, in recent days the Government and health officials have been trying to play down the threat it poses.

Virologist Allan Hampson is the chairman of the Influenza Specialists Group.
He says the swine flu is a threat, but it is one that is being kept in check for the time being.

"We're still very definitely - to my mind - within that contained phase that the Government has declared, and a long way I think yet from moving into the sustained phase, which would be an admission that the virus is spreading out of control," he said.

"A lot of the cases we've seen are in large clusters, where it's known where the virus has originated, including that cruise ship, which has been the source of a lot of cases."